SBB Tech (Seoul / Korea; www.sbb.co.kr), a ball bearing manufacturer has specified PEEK from the polymer solutions division of Victrex (Thornton Cleveleys / UK; www.victrex.com) for use in a robot speed reducer. The manufacturer has cut both production costs and weight by using the polymer in place of existing metals in the production of speed reducers.

A typical speed reducer includes internal gear, external gear and the output unit. The external gear is required to be especially strong and elastic to prevent damage from long hours of rotation. SBB Tech is working closely with Victrex to refine the design, processing and performance of the components by using the material to achieve a delicate tooth profile – a thin and narrow tooth profile can be crushed or make it hard for tooth profiles to intertwine with each other – while retaining elasticity.

“It is critical to make a tooth profile very dense while maintaining the strength, which is not an easy task. In the future, we plan to develop a new type of speed reducer by combining a variety of Victrex PEEK polymer features,” said Brian Kim, technology support manager at Victrex Korea. Lightweight speed reducers made in PEEK polymer are a good fit for light weight robots, such as human robots used at school or at home as well as education robots, Victrex says.